The invention relates to a culture cup for sampling and microbial-count determination.
A number of screening tests are used to diagnose urinary-tract infections. These include serological, microscopic, biochemical, culture and combined methods.
Of all these methods, the culture method has proved to be the most advantageous, and of its different variants the so called agar dip-slide method has found the widest use because of its handling ease and reliability.
In this method, a slide coated with nutrient agar is dipped in the test liquid whose bacterial count is to be determined, for example, urine, and then incubated. (See M.A.-F. Abdou, Munch. med. Wschr. 119 (1977), No. 24, pp. 837-840.)
For the purpose of a urinalysis, it is customary for the patient to collect the urine at home in a container and take it to the place of examination.
It often happens that the container is not sterile, with the result that the tests are positive when they should not be. Also a shift in the microorganism spectrum may occur during transportation through an increase in contaminants and displacement of the original microorganism or distortion of the bacterial sensitivity by the transfer of R factors from the contaminants to the actual disease-agent.
Moreover, to be able to immerse the slide, a relatively large amount of urine is required, which may be a problem in the case of nursing infants, nervous small children and patients with urinary difficulties.
Finally, suitable containers often are not available or the container used is not tight.